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This form showcases formulas used for calculations and validations in Orbeon Forms.
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Compare numbers. These formulas compare numbers using all the comparison operators.
$number-1 =  $number-2
$number-1 != $number-2
$number-1 >  $number-2
$number-1 >= $number-2
$number-1 <  $number-2
$number-1 <= $number-2
Number 1
Number 2
false
true
true
false
false
true

Yes/No selection. This formula tells whether the user selected a "Yes" answer using radio buttons.
 
Here is a technical explanation for the use of the string() function:
 
  • Why not just write $yes-no?
    • If you do, the expression will always evaluate to true(), because Orbeon Forms evaluates the formula as boolean($yes-no).
    • Since $yes-no points to an element node, the function always returns true.
  • Why not write $yes-no = true()?
    • In this case, since $yes-no is compared to an xs:boolean value, it is first atomized. The node pointed to by $yes-no is of type xs:boolean, so the atomization process takes the node typed value.
    • When the node contains the string 'true' or 'false', this expression works as expected.
    • However, if it contains an empty string, then the expression fails. For the purpose of determining whether a field is valid, readonly, or visible, when the expression fails the result will be considered to be false(), so it will work if the expression is used on its own.
    • However, if the expression is used in an or clause ($yes-no = true() or something), if the $yes-no = true() part is evaluated first, the expression as a whole will fail and return false(), which is incorrect in case the other part of the or clause is true(). Also, in the case of a calculated value, the result will be the empty string, instead of 'false'.
$yes-no/string() = 'true'
Yes/No answer
false

Testing the value of a checkbox. This formula tells whether a specific option of a checkbox is selected.
if ($checkboxes/xxf:split() = '2') then 'Yes' else 'No'
CheckboxesTry to select various checkboxes
No
Counting selected checkboxes. This formula validates that at most 2 checkboxes are selected.
count(xxf:split($checkboxes-max)) <= 2
CheckboxesTry to select 3 checkboxes

Age. This formula calculates your age based on your birthdate.
 
This assumes that you turn a certain age on the month and day matching your birthday. For that reason, the formula is trickier than just subtracting years, or subtracting a number of days and then dividing (by 365 or 365.25). These other alternatives will not always produce the correct result!
let $date1        := $birthdate,
    $date2        := current-date(),
    $months-days1 := substring(xs:string($date1), 6, 11),
    $months-days2 := substring(xs:string($date2), 6, 11)
return
    if ($months-days2 > $months-days1) then
        year-from-date($date2) - year-from-date($date1)
    else
        year-from-date($date2) - year-from-date($date1) - 1
Birthdate
Current date. Set the initial value of a date field to the current date.
current-date()
Current date
Number of weekdays between two dates. This formula counts how many weekdays are between two dates.
for
    $start          in $first-date,
    $end            in $second-date,
    $startW         in xs:integer(format-date($start, '[F1]')),
    $endW           in xs:integer(format-date($end, '[F1]')),
    $days           in days-from-duration($end - $start),
    $daysNoWeekends in $days - (floor($days div 7) * 2)
return
    if ($days mod 7 != 0 and ($startW = 7 or $endW = 7)) then $daysNoWeekends - 1
    else if ($endW < $startW) then $daysNoWeekends - 2
    else $daysNoWeekends
First date
Second date
22

Number of hours. This formula calculates the number of whole hours between two times.
hours-from-duration(xs:time($end-time) - xs:time($start-time))
Start
End
8
Current time. Set the initial value of a time field to the current time.
current-time()
Current time

Regular expression validation. This formula validates that a text values matches a given regular expression.
matches(., $regex)
Type text here and see if it validates
Validating a Legal Entity Identifier (LEI). This formula validates an LEI (Legal Entity Identifier) field.
let $lei := .
return
  string-length($lei) = 20 and
  xs:decimal(
    string-join(
      for $code in string-to-codepoints($lei)
      return
        if ($code >= string-to-codepoints('A') and string-to-codepoints('Z') >= $code) then
          (: Letters A-Z :)
          xs:string($code - string-to-codepoints('A') + 10)
        else if ($code >= string-to-codepoints('0') and string-to-codepoints('9') >= $code) then
          (: Digits 0-9 :)
          xs:string($code - string-to-codepoints('0'))
          (: Unrecognized characters :)
        else
          '',
      ''
    )
  ) mod 97 = 1
Validating an International Securities Identification Number (ISIN).
 
This formula validates an ISIN (International Securities Identification Number). This shows how a formula can become quite sophisticated.

let $isin := .
return
  (
    let
      $without-checksum := substring($isin, 1, 11),
      $letter-as-numbers-string :=
        string-join(
          for $code in string-to-codepoints($without-checksum)
          return
            if ($code >= string-to-codepoints('A') and
                string-to-codepoints('Z') >= $code) then
              (: Letters A-Z :)
              xs:string($code - string-to-codepoints('A') + 10)
            else if ($code >= string-to-codepoints('0') and
                     string-to-codepoints('9') >= $code) then
              (: Digits 0-9 :)
              xs:string($code - string-to-codepoints('0'))
              (: Unrecognized characters :)
            else
              '',
          ''
        ),
      $letter-as-numbers-digits :=
        for $code in string-to-codepoints($letter-as-numbers-string)
        return xs:decimal(codepoints-to-string($code)),
      $reversed-digits     := reverse($letter-as-numbers-digits),
      $group-1-digits      := $reversed-digits[position() mod 2 = 1],
      $group-2-digits      := $reversed-digits[position() mod 2 = 0],
      $group-1-x2-decimals := for $d in $group-1-digits return $d * 2,
      $group-1-x2-string   := string-join(
                                for $d in $group-1-x2-decimals
                                return string($d),
                                ''
                              ),
      $group-1-x2-digits   := for $code in string-to-codepoints($group-1-x2-string)
                              return xs:decimal(codepoints-to-string($code)),
      $sum-digits          := sum(($group-1-x2-digits, $group-2-digits)),
      $checksum-computed   := string((10 - ($sum-digits mod 10)) mod 10),
      $checksum-provided   := substring($isin, 12, 1),
      $proper-checksum     := $checksum-computed = $checksum-provided,
      $proper-length       := string-length($isin) = 12
    return
      $proper-checksum and $proper-length
  )
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